1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of beverage receptacle openers, and it relates more particularly to tools for assisting in the manipulation of pull-up can opening tabs of the type which lever a scored closure down into the can, and to tools for assisting in the opening of twist-off type bottle caps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Beverage cans have come into widespread usage which employ a stay-on pull-up tab which opens the can by first popping a scored closure segment of the lid loose and then levering the closure segment down into the can. While such pull tab-type beverage can openers are intended to be initially lifted by a fingernail from close proximity to the lid surface and then levered by finger pressure, in practice such tabs require so much lifting force, particularly during the initial movement thereof upwardly away from the surface of the lid, that they are difficult or impossible for many people to operate directly with the fingers, and they frequently result in broken fingernails when direct finger manipulation is attempted. Accordingly, there have been several prior art tools designed to assist in the manipulation of beverage can opening tabs of this type.
One such tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,352 and consists of an elongated, flat tube or sleeve having a forwardly opening mouth adapted to be engaged longitudinally over the can opening tab, with closed side walls for transversely locating the tab within the tube or sleeve. One of the disclosed forms has a forwardly projecting extension of the top wall of the flat tube or sleeve to assist the tab in opening the scored closure segment of the can lid. In practice, this tool has proven to be difficult to use, the blunt forward end of the lower wall being awkward to get under the tab, the close spacing between the upper and lower walls, the forwardly projecting part of the upper wall and the closed side walls making initial engagement of the tool with the tab difficult to visually align and generally critical.
A similar prior art tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,921, this tool having a generally flat metal body with a downwardly stamped bridge that is intended to be engaged under the tab. This bridge has a sharpened leading edge to assist in the initial engagement with the tab, but the wide, flat metal body and the closed side walls forming a part of the stampedout bridge, as with the tool discussed in the immediately preceding paragraph, made initial engagement of the tool with the tab generally critical and difficult to visually align.
Another tool which applicants have observed on the market has a wide wedge-shaped lower element and a much narrower finger-shaped upper element that curves upwardly and forwardly in widely spaced relationship above the lower element. While the wedge-shaped lower element is readily engageable under a pull tab and visibility is good, the upper finger, because of both its curved contour and wide spacing from the lower element, leaves the tab generally loose and ungripped in the device and this makes manipulation of the tab awkward. Constant forward force must be applied to keep the tool engaged with the tab. This tool has no side walls nor any other lateral alignment means, so that it presents a continuing alignment problem during manipulation of a pull tab.
Another type of tab opening tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,287, wherein a hook at the front end of the tool engages and pulls up on the free end of the tab while a leg member pushes down against the scored closure segment of the lid. In operation, the handle of this tool extends in the opposite direction from the pull tab and the handle is pushed down rather than being pulled up, which make this device unnatural and awkward to use.
Beverage bottle caps intended to be gripped and twisted off by the hand without requiring the use of a conventional flip-up type of bottle cap opener have also come into widespread usage. However, these bottle caps require so much torque to be twisted off that many people are incapable of removing such twist-off caps without the aid of a tool, and even for people capable of twisting them off by hand the tight grip around the serrated periphery of the bottle cap will generally cause considerable discomfort. One tool designed to mechanically assist both the tightening and the removing of twist-type bottle caps is disclosed in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 249,452 and consists of an internally groved cup attached to the longitudinal center of a short, flat, generally sharp-edged handle that would still appear to involve some discomfort in use.